At present treatment of effluent for example household sewage is either carried out centrally in a large capacity effluent plant generally run by a government organization or alternatively such effluent is treated by a conventional septic tank arrangement in which natural bacterial action is used to separate solids from an effluent liquid which is then dumped into a septic field.
Various attempts have been made over many years to generate a septic or effluent treatment system which is of a size suitable to be used in a relatively small location for example one household or a group of households or by for example a relatively small industrial process in which clear liquid basically suitable for human consumption can be extracted from the effluent or sewage leaving solids in sludge form which can be disposed of separately.
While the treatment chemicals have been available for many years which act as flocculents, up till now no suitable apparatus has been available which provides the necessary mixing chamber and the subsequent separating chamber in an efficient and effective manner at a cost of the apparatus which enables it to be supplied economically for individual use such as that described above.
Examples of apparatus proposed for this process are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,886,073 and 4,710,290, both by Raymond P. Briltz. However the apparatus shown in these patents are relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture and has accordingly achieved little success.